A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a collet latch for attaching a drill to a whipstock during run in to reduce the number of trips necessary to slant drill a well bore.
B. Description of the Prior Art
The use of a whipstock to slant drill through the side of a well bore at an angle is well known. See for instance U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,044 to Tinker issued Nov. 13, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference, showing a method of locating and orienting a whipstock. Part of the wall of the casing in which the whipstock is located has been pre-milled to facilitate lateral drilling outside of the main well bore. The whipstock is oriented to direct the drill through the pre-milled “window” in the casing to the area surrounding the well bore where it is desired to drill. As the drill is lowered into the well bore, the angled (“concave”) face of the whipstock redirects the drill bit away from the vertical position into contact with the casing surrounding the drill allowing lateral drilling to take place.
Previously, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,044, the whipstock was run into place during a first run and after removing the entire drill string above the whipstock, the drill was run (“tripped”) into the hole to initiate drilling. This inefficiency of using two trips to install the whipstock and to then insert the drill leads to increased expenses and tooling. It is desirable to run both the drill and the whipstock into the well bore in one trip to save time, equipment and the costs associated therewith.
The present invention teaches a new apparatus and method for installing the whipstock and drill simultaneously by a unique arrangement for attaching the whipstock to the drill for concurrent installation.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.